William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize: Finalists announced!

BY Monash Gallery of Art | 31-Aug-2017

Some of Australia’s best photographers are in the running for the prestigious $30,000 William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize for 2017. This year’s eminent judging panel, artist and educator Susan Fereday, architect and collector Corbett Lyon, and MGA Senior Curator Stephen Zagala have selected 59 photographs from a record 897 entries (+43% on 2016), the largest number received in the history of the prize. #bownessprize #australianphotography #artprize #australianhomeofphotography #contemporaryphotography #acquisitiveprize #mgafoundation #monashgalleryofart

The Bowness Photography Prize is non-thematic and this year entries reveal the diversity of Australian photographic practice. Gender diversity, LGBTQI rights, repatriation of indigenous remains, bio-diversity in first nations and drone photography are some of the powerful thematic concerns explored by shortlisted finalists.

‘We were greatly impressed with the quality of submissions to the Bowness Photography Prize this year’ said Fereday. ‘Choosing works was tough – there were enough strong photographs to fill several shows. Ultimately we decided to keep two things in mind. Firstly, that the prize is acquisitive this year; we are looking for truly outstanding works. Secondly, we hope the exhibition reflects the breadth of current practice, providing a kind of cross-section of what people are doing. There is an enormous diversity in engagement and ambition with the medium right now. Photography is in a really healthy place.’

MGA Senior Curator, Stephen Zagala said, ‘I’m struck by a certain primitivism in this year’s selection; herbal plant-heads, totemic ciphers, ritualistic gestures, and shamans conjuring meaning from photography’s chemical processes. It is a shortlist that reminds me of photography’s power to re-invent the real.’

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The Bogong Centre for Sound Culture offers its next instalment of their masterclass series The Art of Field Recording during the winter snow season in the Bogong High Plains. This five-day intensive masterclass is overseen by internationally acclaimed sound artists and recordists Douglas Quin [US] and Philip Samartzis [AU] The masterclass runs from July 1 to 5, 2019 at Howmans Gap, Victoria. #bogongsound @bogongsound #philipsamartzis #douglasquin #howmansgap

Madelynne Cornish is an audiovisual artist and curator. She documents the effects of climate on natural and constructed environments, and the dynamics informing remote communities. @bogongsound #bogongsound